


Peripheral

by TortiTabby



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Apocalypse, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Florida, Horror, M/M, Survival, heavy thoughts and conversations involving survival and the survival of absent loved ones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 07:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17545127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TortiTabby/pseuds/TortiTabby
Summary: Dan is in Florida on vacation with the Lester's when all hell breaks loose





	Peripheral

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to @huphilpuffs for being my beta on this one!!  
>   
> I thought of how I wasn't totally in love with my last apocalypse type of fic and then this just kind of happened lol

The pungent smell of rotten eggs burned Dan’s nose. He clawed his way through the tall 

green plants that scratched up his legs and tried not to panic. 

He tried to keep an eye out for any animal that meant danger while also trying to avoid any murky water. 

The Florida Everglades were unforgiving and they required Dan’s full attention, which was proving to be difficult as the sun was lowering in the sky. It was past time for Phil to be back at the shack hours ago and Dan couldn’t shake the sick and sour worrying feeling in his gut.

“Phil!” He cupped his mud caked hands around his mouth and yelled. It was reckless and too risky to be so loud but Phil was at stake and really that was all that really mattered.

“Dan!” 

Dan hurried over to find Phi down in a ditch completely covered in mud and grime. He was going to make their entire little home reek. It was one of those things Dan knew he would have once been disappointed about but that wasn't a luxury he had anymore. 

Phil was okay so Dan's world kept spinning. Some days it was as simple as that. 

“It's getting dark Phil I-”

“I slipped down here and it's too steep to climb back up.”

Dan wipes the sweat and mud onto his jeans and hurried to grab Phil's hands and hoist him back up to his level. 

“I thought I heard Mum. I know. I'm sorry. I'm so-”

“You're okay so all is forgiven.” Dan pulled him in for a quick squeeze of a hug. The head to toe search for injuries would have to wait until they were locked away safe and sound for the night. 

It was dire for them to get back to the beaten down wooden house before night fell. 

They made the trip back in total silence with their arms linked securely together. They couldn't risk making noise and being followed. 

Miraculously, their makeshift home appeared before the sun was completely down. 

It was small but stood tall on it's sturdy stilts that prevented it from flooding and other threats that hadn't existed back when the house was built. 

“Let me take these off outside.” Phil said once they reached the door. He gestured at his swamp covered clothes. 

Dan shook his head. “And essentially raise a flag to other humans around that we're here?” 

They hurried inside without another word. 

 

“You scared me today.” Dan whispered softly as they sat wrapped in various blankets they had found in the house totally nude and as clean as they could get. Their clothes were half heartedly scrubbed and rinsed off and were hanging in the bathroom to dry.

“I'm sorry. It really sounded like Mum. I was stupid. I was gone all day and only found two eggs.”

Dan snuggled in closer and hummed lightly. “I understand. Just try not to disa-” They both froze. “Try uh, not to leave like that is all.”

He almost let slip a taboo word. Disappearing had a whole new meaning ever since the world changed. 

People would be fine and out enjoying their lives one minute and the next- poof! It wasn’t something either of them liked to discuss. The unknown was always a bit scary but it never made Dan break out in a cold sweat before any of this started happening.

Strange creatures,  _ mostly  _ invisible creatures started roaming the streets and before a full day passed the human population dwindled and mass hysteria broke out. 

 

They had been on a day trip out, sight seeing the Florida Everglades and the gators and all the rest of the creepy crawlies that lived in them. 

It had been chaos. The park they were in erupted into screaming families stampeding in every direction, no one quite sure where what they were running from even  _ was _ . Martyn and Cornelia, as well as Phil’s parents had all been at a different part of the park. It had been a long day and by the time they got to the park they agreed it was overdue for some alone time and they’d meet back up later on to enjoy the rest of the day as a family. It had been Dan’s idea.

He had trouble sleeping at times due to the guilt. If they all stayed together Phil would know if his family was still out there or not. He wouldn’t be spending his days chasing phantom voices of his mother. Phil told him over and over again that it had been a group decision but leaving the park never was. That was all Dan.

 

“Should I get another denim bedazzled hat?” Dan asked and plopped a pink sequin covered hat onto his sweaty curls. He dramatically modeled for his fond yet exasperated boyfriend.

“You know I laughed at the first one but I was wrong so maybe you should.” Phil laughed.

A blood curdling shriek sounded from right outside of the gift shop.

Dan dropped the hat and darted out of the door to cautiously see what was happening. Phil’s hand was shaking as it gripped tightly onto Dan’s arm.

“I don’t even see any-” Dan stopped mid sentence. Out of the corner of his eye he could just barely make out a massive beast that seemed to shimmer in the sun as it stalked towards an innocent tourist. It’s eyes were an unnatural shade of amber that shone in a way he had never seen anything’s eyes shine before. 

He turned his head to look at it directly- to try to figure out what exactly this thing was, what it even actually  _ looked  _ like. 

Then it was gone. 

As soon as Dan tried to look directly at it there was nothing there. 

He glanced back to the man it was creeping towards just in time to see him get knocked over by an invisible force, and vanish. Suddenly.  _ Violently _ , with a scream that would haunt Dan for the rest of his life.

“What the fuck.”

“We need to go. We need to go now.” Phil pulled on Dan’s arm and the two of them made a run for it, hand in hand. 

“We need to find Martyn, Corn, Mum and Dad!” Phil yelled in Dan’s ear. The rest of the park seemed to explode in a wave of panic. People were screaming in the streets and pushing each other down if they were in their path to escaping. Only nobody could see what they were running from and they unfortunately saw four or five more people go down in the midst of the chaos, along with the nearly silver opaque flashes run past just out of their line of sight.

A man ran towards them and grabbed a different man walking past by the collar of his shirt. “It’s all over the news! People are disappearing and dying everywhere! This is it folks! This is it!” He shoved the man onto his back and ran off into the crowd. The man scrambled to his feet and ran off in a different direction- only to disappear with a shout a minute later.

Dan spun towards Phil and grabbed each side of his face. He quickly wiped tears away with a swipe of his thumb. “We need to go, Phil, I’m sorry. I know, _ I know  _ this is awful and an impossible decision but we have to leave. It’s not safe here. This is an impossible decision but I’ll be the one to make it. I can’t lose you. I  _ can’t _ .” 

Phil sucked in a shaky breath before looking away with a curt nod.

Then they ran. Hand in hand until they reached a fence they had to help each other scale to get to outside of the park. Dan landed hard on the damp, green ground next to Phil and laced his fingers back with his. 

 

They took off again and ran for the better part of the day until Phil spotted the  abandoned house in the distance. Luckily it was still furnished and had a decent amount of canned food in the pantry. There were some blankets forgotten in a closet in one of the empty bedrooms and all in all they couldn’t have found a better place. 

Going by the talleys Phil left each morning by the front door it had been a week and a half. . They had yet to see another person. Dan was terrified they were going to run out of food so each day the took to the swamp to careful look for alternatives to stretch out their supply.

 

“Get out of there.” Phil nudged his bare shoulder against Dan’s. “I can hear you thinking too hard.” 

“Sorry. It’s hard not to.” Dan said softly. 

Phil pulled them down to their makeshift bed on the floor and cuddled in close. “I hate not being able to see them at night.” He whispered.

Dan hadn’t even been thinking about whatever those creatures were. They tended to want to be back inside their safe little home by nightfall just by principle but the thought creeped up on Phil their second night away of how difficult it would be to see them at all if it was dark out. 

It seemed the monsters, whatever they were, tended to not really be out in the middle of nowhere with them, at least, but Dan wasn’t going to chance it.

“Let’s not talk about them.” Dan shivered.

“Well what can we talk about?” Phil’s voice was frustrated and snappier than Dan was anticipating.

“What does that mean?” He rolled towards Phil and frowned in the dark.

“I just think you’re pushing things down and I can’t go through this all alone. I need to talk about it. I hallucinated my mum’s voice earlier. I’m freaking out here.”

 

Dan sighed heavily. “I can’t watch you just disappear in front of me, Phil. I can’t even start to think about you disappearing in front of me. I don’t know what we’re doing here. I don’t know what we’re going to do when we run out of food. We’re going to have to  _ hunt _ , Phil. I am afraid to think about all of it but at the same time I can’t  _ stop _ .”

“I will happily live out the rest of our lives as swamp men together if that’s how this plays out.” He pressed a kiss to Dan’s curls. “Just let me know what’s going on in there sometimes, okay?” 

Phil’s breathing evened out into shallow snores not too long after. Dan tore his gaze away from the window he could barely make out from where they were laying. It was no use keeping an eye out for the terrifying glowing yellow eyes that plagued his dreams, yet he did it each and every night until he couldn’t keep his eyes open.

“Put your clothes on.” Dan jerked away just as his still rather filthy clothes hit him in the chest.

Phil was tugging his own shirt over his head in a rush.

“What is going on?” Dan muttered and rubbed at his tired eyes.

“Listen!” 

A blaring buzzing sound filled Dan’s ears. He jumped to his feet and threw his clothes on.

“What the fuck-”  
“It’s an airboat, Dan! Somebody’s out there!”

They hurried to the door, Dan hot on Phil’s heels. The morning light burned Dan’s eyes. Paired with the humidity, the scorching Florida sun was already nearly unbearable, even at such an early hour. 

“Where is it?” Phil shielded his eyes and scoured the marshland from their raised deck. “I don’t see anything,” he muttered.

Dan’s eye caught glimpse of the long green boat with the gigantic noisy fan on the back. He opened his mouth to point it out to Phil when his heart leapt into his throat at what he saw.

Kathryn Lester was standing, much like she forbade all of them from doing at a family outing that included an airboat a few years ago, waving her arms. Nigel was at her side, sitting the appropriate way with his arms tight around his wife keeping her sturdy. Martyn and Cornelia sat behind them. Martyn was waving furiously and Cornelia was crying.

“Phil.” Dan managed to say thickly. He felt as though he was going to choke on his tears. The chances had been so slim. He never wanted to give Phil false hope that any of them were still out there. Yet here they  _ all  _ were.

“What? Do you see it?” He glanced at Dan and followed his line of sight. He stood, unmoving for a moment before crumbling to his knees. Dan caught him halfway down and pulled him to his chest and let him cry.

“Let’s go.” Dan said as the boat reached their house. 

He helped Phil travel shakily down their steps and hung back to see him throw himself into his mother’s arms. 

He felt as though a gigantic weight was off of his shoulders. He had been hurting quietly so badly for Phil, and admittedly for himself too. He was an honorary Lester after all.

“Dan!” Martyn yelled and helped Dan into the boat with the rest of them. 

Dan was attacked by an onslaught of Lesters all trying to throw their arms around him. He let out a wet laugh and smiled over at Phil.

“Good to go?” An old weathered looking man back near the fan grunted. He had a strange pair of makeshift sunglasses on and was staring into the wetlands they had been staying at intently.

“Yes that’s all of our family.” Nigel said proudly. 

“Who is that?” Dan asked as the boat started back up essentially drowning him out. Martyn seemed to piece together what he tried to say. 

“His name is George. He is with the group that took us in. They’re figuring out how to stop those things and have even made glasses you can see them straight on with.” Kathryn said. “They’re all over the world from what it sounds like. I think we were in the right place at the right time to find him. Good thing we weren’t back home. It was hit really hard and apparently it really devastated most of the population.”

“ _ Mum _ !”

Dan’s heart plummeted as he thought of his family. He wasn’t sure how he could even check to see if they were okay. Phil grabbed his hand and squeezed hard. 

“Against everything mine were okay. Yours could be too.” He smiled sadly at Dan who couldn’t decide between bursting into tears or kissing him square on the mouth, strange bushman be damned. 

He chose a third option and turned to the strange man instead. “You were looking over by where we were hiding out at. Did you see any of them? Do those really work?” he yelled over the fan.

George slipped off the glasses without a word and handed them to Dan. 

Dan fumbled with the glasses and placed them on his ears before turning back to where they had just spent nearly an entire week alone and defenseless. 

The swamp was crawling with the creatures. They showed up dark on the glasses, almost like a shadow. There were four under the stilted house, two on the roof, there was about a dozen scattered throughout the marsh where he could see. 

His hands shook as he handed them back to George. 

He grabbed a hold of Phil and held on tight. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!!!!  
> I would really appreciate and love any comments or [ reblogs](https://tortitabby.tumblr.com/post/182308065825/peripheral)


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